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The Cold War Begins - Coggle Diagram

- - - - unfinished business from WWII and wartime conferences led US to fear that the USSR would be an ideological threat. Potsdam Conference ended without resolving the issue of whether Eastern Europe would be a sphere of influence
        
        in response, Stalin moved quickly to assert his control over eastern Europe by setting up satellite states - installing Soviet-friendly governments
        
        aggressive advance into eastern Europe - convinced US that USSR meant to take control of Europe
  - - - [1] would serve Truman well in the political sense
        
        Truman wanted US foreign policy to be more activist - Congress was not amenable to this view
        
        speech to Congress aimed at deliberately creating a war scare / hysteria by presenting the imminent spread of Communism into Greece then Turkey --> increase reception to his plan --> manouevre the views of Congress to ensure he would gain a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives to change American foreign policy
        
        USSR as a formidable external threat --> convince Congress that financial spending on military rearmament and foreign aid on a massive scale was needed in peacetime
        
        key change he wanted was to move onto a more activist policy to prevent the spread of Soviet influence that would threaten American economic interests
        
        [1] extension of Soviet influence in the Middle East that could allow it to exert a monopoly over oil in the region since they were putting pressure on Iran for oil concessions instead of withdrawing from the region
        
        [2] extension of Soviet influence from Eastern Europe (reflected through what was perceived as Soviet support in Greece) that would put at risk potential US control over western Europe as an open market.
      - [2] to gain economic aid to provide the supposed countries under threat with the means for post-war recovery
        MORE IMPORTANT THAN [1]!!
- - - - Truman presented conflict as a competition of ideologies
        
        KEY IDEA:
        Truman Doctrine was based on the belief that for any "free people" under the threat of subjugation from a foreign power, US must help prevent the foreign power from taking over.
        the only way to do this was to provide aid.
        
        US must protect and provide assistance to any democratic nation under threat from external and internal authoritarian forces
    - - belief that American security was interdependent on European and global security
        
        US national security could no longer be confined to the physical security of American territory but must also entail a commitment to affairs in other parts of the world
        
        in the long run, what happened overseas could happen to America as well
        
        spurred by immediate events:
        
        [Feb 1947] Br gov, who had been helping Greece resist Communist rebels, announced that it could no longer afford to station their troops in Greece and Turkey
        
        pattern of Soviet expansion in Europe --> Truman's fear that withdrawal of Br troops would lead to USSR taking control of these two countries + Truman convinced that he could make Greece a part of the US bloc
        
        appealed to Congress to grant financial aid to keep Br troops in Greece and Turkey
        
        massive amounts of arms, military advisors and supplies to Greece
        
        $60 million to Turkey
        
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      - impact of long telegram and iron curtain speech [1946]
        
        [22 Feb 1946] Long Telegram by George Kennan
        
        an American diplomat, with a long experience of Soviet affairs --> carried a lot of weight
        
        explained that USSR worked on the assumption that there would be a need to fight the capitalist world --> aimed for nothing less than the "total destruction of their rivals" (esp US) --> confirmed US' worst fears ("capitalism and communism cannot coexist"). there's going to be a war, a conflict because if USSR wanted to spread Communism, they must eliminate capitalism --> threat to US
        
        narrow recommendations - US shd project a positive new order to the world that all nations should work towards -->
        
        SO WHAT?
        
        state dpmt officials had been uncertain how to interpret Soviet policy
        
        Kennan's firm views, presented at a time when US found USSR increasingly difficult to deal with, had a crucial psychological bearing
        --> regarded as the "answer" to the direction US foreign policy needed
        
        served as intervening influences --> proposed new and far-reaching ideas that Truman acted upon when the Greek crisis occurred
        
        policy of containment was developed at a time when American security seemed to be under threat
        
        [5 Mar 1946] "Iron Curtain" speech by Winston Churchill
        
        laid down his interpretation of the situation in Europe --> "an iron curtain has descended on the continent"
        
        referred to how America, Br and all the English-speaking peoples of the Commonwealth should combine "in fraternal association" to create a secure peace
        
        SO WHAT?
        
        recognition of the threat that Churchill claimed began with Soviet expansion
        
        proposal for an association between US and Br to oppose Soviet power --> call to unified action against the common threat, USSR, who was expanding with unbridled aggressive intent
        
        alarmist in tone --> echoed Kennan's sentiments that USSR believed communism and capitalism cannot coexist
- - - - USSR declined and did not allow any satellite state to accept Marshall Plan aid
        
        TRUE ALTRUISM vs SELF INTERESTS
        
        true altruism / humanitarian
        
        genuine
        
        nothing to be gained
        
        willingness of US to devote $13 billion of direct financial aid to help resurrect the shattered European economies (16 recipients) WITHOUT expecting countries to pay US back
        
        the aid came at a time when it was most needed - 1947 was the coldest winter ever recorded + devastation of agriculture resulting from WWII --> threatened with starvation
        
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        self-interests
        
        ulterior motives
        
        US ultimately gains benefits
        
        the economic aid was a strategy with strings attached
        
        in the name of economic reconstruction of Europe, Marshall Plan was actually an economic strategy motivated by national interests --> aimed at keeping US from backsliding into depression by providing a market for US capital goods
        
        [1] sustaining the war-time economic boom:
        
        granting aid to recovering European economies for them to buy American manufactured goods and raw materials --> sustain pre-war boom, develop post-war economy
        
        EVIDENCE: most of the resources and goods purchased using funds were from US --> benefit American exporters and domestic industries --> allowed US to recover from short-term economic slump fo 1946-47
        
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        ECA set rigorous guidelines on MP funding - reserving the right to cease funding if the recipient nations did not follow certain directives
        
        IDEOLOGICAL vs
        NON-IDEOLOGICAL
        
        ideological
        
        economic means to a political end
        
        end goal: stop the spread of Communism so that democracies remained intact, forming a Western democratic bloc
        
        Marshall Plan was used to ensure that democracies would be sustained, and that Europe recovers in a way where US' allies were retained
        
        EVIDENCE: a disproportionately large amount of economic aid was granted to countries in western Europe (UK: 3176 million, France: 2706 million) that were the traditionally cooperative democracies who had in the past supported the US or were their allies
        
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        non-ideological
        
        ideology was only a weapon / excuse
        
        end goal: stop the spread of Communism to ensure Europe would remain an open market for US businesses
        
        what appeared to be the concern over the spread of Communism and its threat to free democracies contained the hidden motive: maintaining Europe as an open market
        
        containment was to ensure that western Europe remained free of Soviet influence and was kept as an American SOI to keep it an open market for US manufacturers and goods - something not possible with the spread of Soviet influence beyond eastern Europe since Communism was all about state control of the economy with no private ownership of businesses